Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-08-16
ANCIENT CHEsTNUTS.
A Tenderfoot Undertakes to Write sao,,t
Early California Events.

lCopyT'gAt' 1857, by Rc California associated Press
soS new YORK, August 15th-lSpecial THE Phils-
Geipnla fresS to-day prints long etter dated ct
oan tiIkahclsco but unsigned, N which some
hstoilishlng statements are set forth concerning,
Salliornia: The following is sample : 1.-THE
history of the Vigilance COMMITTEES in san
Francisco If truthfully written would be an
appaillhg one. For long time it maintained a
virtual reign of terror. The life of every man
VINO had the slightest religious, social political
or business difference with any member of the
rlSllantes was in momentary jeopardy. The
unsupported word of one Of its members was
All that was necessary to secure the lynching of
any man by the committee, so that if anyone of
the Vlgllantes coveted, in violation of the te tn
bomal d1 i ms helghbors wife, or his
mouse, or MS maldservant or anything that was
ms and wished to put him out of The wny. as
the quickest, surest and easiest means of securing
II, an ne mad to DO was to trump up some charge
against MIN and have him lynched out of hand
Inc stoutest hearts used 10 tremble in those
carry days IN the tiities, when the Vigilance
Committee went through the streets with
q wagon ringing their dreadful bell ms
they passed along and looking eagerly
Tor victims, much as the dog-catchers
now look tor stray CANNES. 1t is a curious fact
that the great majority of the Nigilantes died
deaths as sudden and violent as those which
they had inflicted upon so many Others Several
OF them were c ther shot or stabbed by relatives
or friends of their victims number of Others
committed suicide. Three killed themselves by
jumping from high windows while suffering
from delirlum tremenS. Some were drowned or
otnerwiSe accidentally killed, aud two were
The correspondent of the Press says During
recent WISH TO san Francisco had most in
teresting one conversation ,hst with A. n Murphy,
been closely identified with her business
and public interests ever since he took up his
residence there in 1919 AS we went together
through the old graveyard of the Mission Do
lores he told ne many thrilling incidents of
crime and adventure in the early history of
many OF San Fraucisco's most prominent citi-
zens, who for years past have been leading
honorable, upright lives, beloved and resnected
by all who know them. He told also of many
other men whose graves we visited and whose
en9rts ents 70 leed new hyes in California We're
baked through the early discovery of their
identity by the Vigilance Committee who sent
them to violent deaths with their boots on - The
correspondent says, apparently on his own ac-
count, thAt the story OF the career of KlSsanc is
generally regarded as the most wonderful life
romance that has ever found its way into print
Yet, II years long past could be withdrawn from
the lives OF many men now prominent i'll re-
lgious. social, business and political circles of
the Pacific Coast. there would be revealed per-
sonal histories quite rs deeply stained and quite
rs strange as his. Many of those who went to
California and took up their residence in San
Francisco in the fifties. did so not only in the
hope OF finding gold but also to escape the con
sequences of youthful crimes or follies and to
begin life anew in region where their identity
was wholly unknown.
The correspondent says he visited the grave
OF ankee sullivan, whom Murphy described
TO him as n victim OF fraudulent charge of
ballot-box stuttiDg. He was an object of dislike
TO the Vigilantes from the first, and may be
truly said to have been marked man from the
moment he set foot in San francisco Yet so
creditably did he conduct himself that it was
impossible for them to find any preteXt for his
taking of, until he acted as Judge of an elec-
tion i'll a bitter political contest which resulted
unsatisfactory to the Vigilantes
Continuing this sort OF history, the press saws 4:
james A. Casey, on the authority of Murphy
was one OF the brightest. best known and most
popular men that ever lived In San Francisco
Like majority of the early settlers in Caliior-
mia, he had made n somewhat erratic record in
the East, but had sown most of his wild oats
and had come out here to put the past behind
him and begin life anew. By his frank, manly
bearing and his many generous qualities he soon
won the gOO1 VIII and respect of all who knew
him.. incidentally the memory of James
King OF William is s0andalously assailed, and
Casey's death is assigned to newspaper fight
Ihe following is another sample passage:
Some of the wealthiest and most influential
men among us to-day-pillars of churches and
foremost IN every good work-are men whose
early lives on the Atlantic coast rest under
heavy clouds, and who could never have at.
tanned their present position had they not drop
pea tnelf real names Oh starting for the West
and assumed others, which they have trans
mitted stainless and honored to their children
Many mad names, or soubriquets assigned to
them by their associates on their arrival here
before they had time to assume them These
expectations were suggested by the great variety
OF personal peculiarities, incidents and eircum-
Stances
All this and more the Press prints under far
ing headlines, the article being nearly a column
and a half long